1824.] 
of cutaneous diseases, having shewn the 
existence of animalcule in psora, and 
many other varieties of cuticular di- 
sease, seems rather to favour than mili- 
tate against the supposition, that most 
of these disorders owe their origin to 
the feculent matter, called perspiration, 
being shut up in the interstices of the 
skin, and subsequently putrifying and 
giving existence to myriads of animal- 
cule. 
The most simple as well as most ef- 
fectual means of relieving the skin ap- 
pears to be by the use of the warm bath, 
either in the form of fresh or saline 
water, or, which is far preferable, in the 
yaporific or gaseous form. Notwith- 
standing all the great cities of the con- 
tinent are provided with baths (both 
public and private, cold and warm), 
which are generally resorted to by the 
inhabitants, not cnly as an article of 
luxury and cleanliness, but as a resto- 
rative after fatigue or exposure to incle- 
ment weather; yet the English have in 
general a disinclination to the enjoy- 
ment of this genuine though temperate 
luxury. 
It seems extracrdinary that so valu- 
able a domestic medicine as a warm 
bath should not form an appendage to 
every opulent mansion in the kingdom. 
There appears to be a very mistaken 
notion among our countrymen, that 
the. occasional use of a warm-bath 
renders the body more liable to cold. 
This, howeyer, is so far from being 
the case, that the inhabitants of Pe- 
tersburgh, Moscow, &¢. are accus- 
tomed to the frequent use of the warm 
bath, and immediately after to throw 
themselves into cold water, even in the 
winter season; both for the purpose of 
recreation and to render themselves 
hardier, and Jess liable to colds. 
Custom is every thing. And as the 
human skin may be almost compared to 
a sponge with its pores filled with water, 
when the warm bath has produced a 
copious discharge of the perspirable 
vapour, and thus carried off the fecu- 
lent, or carbonaceous and alkaline mat- 
ter from the vessels of the skin, the 
sudden immersion in cold water, or in a 
shower bath, instantly closes the minute 
ores of the epidermis, thus prevyent- 
ing the liability to “ take cold,” and at 
the same time bracing the muscles of 
the whole body. 
With regard to the use of the warm 
bath in general, some discretion is un- 
doubtedly necessary. It is neither de- 
sirable to have the temperature too 
On the Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases. 
319 
high (especially on first entering) nor to 
remain too long in the bath. Any me- 
dical adviser will, however, be capable 
of decidtag on these poimts, according 
to the general habits or health of the 
patient. 
But for persons of a delicate frame, 
the fumigating vapour-bath possesses 
very decided advantages over a water- 
bath. The weight or pressure of the 
water is very oppressive, and almost 
painful to persons labouring under asth- 
matic or liver complaints; while vapour 
acts insensibly on the skin, or rather it 
affords an agreeable sensation almost 
immediately, by releasing the constric- 
tion of the pores, and allowing them to 
discharge their morbid contents. 
But it has been proved that medicated 
vapour baths have much ereater influ- 
ence than mere water-vapour, by acting 
chemically on the patient, and thus, while 
it dissolves and carries off the feculent 
matter, it brings on a healthy action of 
the skin, by promoting a freer circula- 
tion of the blood through its minute 
vessels. 
. In cases where the skin is turgid and 
insensible, the chlorine gas (oxymuriatic) 
has been found most efficacious, and 
chlorine vapour has been used with the 
most decided success by Mr. Wallace in 
the Dublin hospitals. 
But where the patient is in a consider- 
able state of irritability, or a general 
debility from chronic disease prevails, 
the sulphurous vapour baths’ are cer- 
tainly the most advantageous. I speak 
from experience, having lately tried 
those of Mr. Green, in Bury Street. 
But the action of sulphur in the state of 
vapour has a more powerful effect on 
the system generally, than would be 
inferred d@ priori. Numerous cases of 
obstinate chronic diseases, as rheuma- 
tism, gout, and visceral obstructions of 
long standing, are stated by Mr. Green 
to have yielded to a judicious use of the 
sulphurous, or fumigating bath. 
It was my intention to have gone 
into a brief inquiry concerning the re- 
puted efficacy of salt-water bathing, as 
a remedy for scrophulous disease ; but 
I am apprehensive I have already tres- 
passed too much on your valuable co- 
lumns. T. W. W. 
Mary-le-bone, 10th Oct. 1824. 
[=z 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE ANCIENT SCLAVONIAN LANGUAGE. 
‘@F this comparatively ancient lan- 
guage little or nothing is known 
in the west of Europe: it is however 
well 
